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Sunday, August 20, 2006

Congo leader faces ex-rebel in presidential runoff

Congo President Joseph Kabila will face ex-rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba after failing to win a majority of votes, election officials said Sunday.

Kabila took 45 percent of the votes compared to Bemba's 20 percent in the July 30 poll.

Riot policemen charge during an anti-election rally in Kinshasa, July 2006. Joseph Kabila and Jean-Pierre Bemba will face each other in a run-off in the Democratic Republic of Congo's presidential election after neither candidate won an outright majority. AFP/File/Gianluigi Guercia photo via Yahoo News.

The runoff will likely take place in late October after the Supreme Court certifies the vote count.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, whose 17,500 peacekeeping troops are helping oversee the voting process, hailed the elections as "a historic milestone in the peace process in the country."